What is it?
The ACT is a web-based leader development tool that will integrate training, assignment history, and formal/informal education paths. The ACT will enable Soldiers, noncommissioned officers (NCO), officers , and Department of the Army (DA) Civilians to holistically manage their development; trains supervisors to provide effective mentoring and counseling, and help leaders to effectively plan for the development of their Soldiers and DA Civilians.

The ACT will give Soldiers and DA Civilians the ability to review their individual training and leader development information, develop a comprehensive learning strategy utilizing a life-long learning approach while displaying and visualizing options that support the integration and synchronization of training, education, and potential career opportunities. Universal access to data, information, and knowledge is essential to successful transformation activities.

Managers and staff can access ACTs’ analytical data so they can respond quickly with the latest information based on an integrated, single “source of truth”.

What has the Army done?
The Army Leaders for the 21st Century study confirmed that the leader development process requires a paradigm shift that simultaneously addresses both current shortfalls in specific skills that are needed in the Army and the preparation of future leaders for full spectrum operations. The ACT will provide the capability for managing leader development as a key component of combat power in order to ensure that leaders, Soldiers, and DA Civilians have all required knowledge at the right time and place.

What continued efforts does the Army have planned for the future?
The Army will implement a pilot program for ACT beginning in the summer of 2009. A scaled down architecture will be used during this pilot phase with Career Management Fields (CMF) 25 (Field Artillery) and CMF 18 (Special Forces). Depending upon the success of the pilot, the Army will expand the ACT program to the remaining CMFs and further expand applicable commonalities to the officer and DA Civilian cohorts.

The ACT will leverage existing Army systems by extracting their respective data elements and organizing them into ACT. Pulling data from these systems will increase the usage of these systems (ACT is not intended to replace any of these existing systems). User access will be via single-sign-on that incorporates role-based security so all users access the same information, but only see the capabilities and details that their respective roles dictate.

Recruiters will have the ability to use ACT to represent the various Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) career roadmaps to potential recruits. During the recruiting process, the recruiter will collect general information about the potential recruits. This information can be used to select an MOS using the ACT recruiter functionality that matches the potential recruit’s initial qualifications and interests. The ACT will clearly present the cross mapping from each MOS to an educational career path, highlighting the many avenues the Army has provided for educational and credentialing opportunities.

Why is this important to the Army?
Today, Army personnel must go to multiple websites and systems to perform career development related activities. The ACT will give Soldiers, NCOs, officers, and DA Civilians the ability to manage their careers from a single portal launch point. The ACT will help facilitate the growth and development of the next generation of multi-skilled Army leaders.